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Saturday, July 11, 2009

The kids and I had a nice visit with my grandma yesterday. We are so lucky to get to see her regularly. In fact, of her approximately 30 grand and great-grandchildren, my children and I are the only ones who get to see her with any regularity; everyone else is too far away. (Japan, Ireland, Oklahoma, California, and Arkansas to be exact.)

Grandma knew that we had all gone camping over Fourth of July weekend and was frustrated that I hadn't posted about it. I love that my grandma reads my blog, so G-ma, this one is for you...

We met friends here on Thursday. Picture 1950s Florida - complete with lots of seniors and golf cart traffic jams. My husband's idea of camping does not include playgrounds, a water park, heated pools, or anything else this place had to offer, but the kids loved it. My children ride in a car once a month, so you can imagine how much fun it was for them to get to cruise around in a golf cart all weekend. Our group ended up being four families - eight adults, eight kids and a dog split between three tents, and a camper. Oh yeah, and four golf carts.

We split meals and each family took a turn supplying and preparing a meal. Well, except for us. Everyone took pity on us since we had so far to come and our trip included hauling everything by bicycle and ferry boat, so all I had to do was write a check. (Thank you Rachel!) Plus our tent was already set up when we arrived. (Again - thank you Rachel.)

The kids slept remarkable well considering it was the first time they camped outside in a tent. Night number one was a bit rough, but after that all went well. Nap time, however, was another story. My daughter must nap; no discussions, no debates - unless you want a moody grumpy obstinate little girl who believes absolutely everything is a huge crisis worthy of a screaming crying fit. Sleeping in a tent where she could hear everyone else discussing how they were going swimming or to the playground, didn't work very well. But we managed as best we could. Nap time ended up being a "quiet-in-the-tent-time" until everyone left and then K could usually fall asleep.

The night of the Fourth was fantastic. The younger kids had a great time with glow sticks, the older kids had a blast with sparklers, the fireworks were great, and the sunset was amazing. (The science geek in me loved the sun pillar.)

On Sunday we didn't even have to take the tent down. We had to get an early start (so we could drive north and stop to buy groceries) and our friends wanted the tent to stay up to dry for a bit longer. While it didn't really fit my husband's definition of camping, it was a great weekend with good friends who we don't get to see often enough. I'm thrilled that we've already decided to do it again next year. Now that we have gotten the lay of the land, next summer we're going to be prepared to enter the parade. My son thinks we need to decorate the golf cart to look like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Won't that be fun...

That sounds like my idea of camping - someone else set up/pack down the tent and do the cooking! Can I come next time? Will I get special consideration because I've come from the other hemisphere?

I know about the hassles of trying to get toddlers to nap while camping. During our last camping trip we tried to time the driving times with nap times. At least when they were confined to their car seats they were more likely to nap.

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